Day at the Circus
by Wufei Leonhart
Summary: After Endless Waltz, I'll let you read and decide what you think. Enjoy!


A Day at the Circus

Day at the Circus

"Big crowd out there today.  Sure you won't lose your concentration?"

"Trowa Barton, are you worried?"

"No, just don't want anybody to be disappointed."

"I'm sure they won't be. Now be quiet the show's starting."

            The lights dim under the big top, as a spotlight shines towards the performers' entrance. The entire tent goes silent as the ringleader makes his way to the center of the ring.  Addressing the entire audience, he clears his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen one and all,

Be ye short or be ye tall,

Whether you are young or old,

No matter how filled your pockets are of gold,

It is all of you who we cordially invite,

To enjoy our show in this ring tonight."

            With this short introduction said, he exits the same way he came, still followed by the spotlight. Immediately after his exit, the circus becomes completely dark, and the audience waits with eager anticipation for the first act.  A lion's roar fills the tent, and the spotlight reveals two lions and Trowa, holding a flute, in the center of the ring.  There is a momentary pause as people begin to gasp at the single performer, wearing half a mask, standing between two lions with no cages or props.  He bends down and seems to whisper something in the lions' ears.  Without warning, they give another loud bellow, and the entire audience jumps back.  There are murmurs throughout, and the cry of a small child in the front row reaches the ears of the calm tamer.  He slowly approaches the child, with both lions following close behind, and the child has a stunned look, followed by a look of terror. Millions of thoughts run through his head, and none of them seemed to have a favorable outcome. 

            Trowa bends to the eye level of the child, who is now clinging to the woman next to him (presumably his mother), and simply stares into his eyes for a moment. The boy sees a strange quality in the one uncovered green eye of this strange person.  He notices a look of kindness, hidden behind an emotionless façade. There is a moment of silence between the two of them, like they are singled out from the world, followed by a mutual understanding.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," a smile broadens across Trowa's half exposed face, completing the grin that the mask eternally wears, "They don't bite." The already slightly dazed child is soothed by the peace and composure in Trowa's voice, and he smiles back.  Not just a simple smile, a smile that hasn't experienced any real sadness, a smile that doesn't bare the weight carried by years of feeling the burdens of life, the warm smile that only a child can give. 

Trowa hoists the young boy over the barrier, as the mother (along with the rest of the crowd) gasps at the thought of her child being so close to danger with nothing that she could do about it.  He is carried to the lions, only a short distance away, and placed upon the back of one of them.

Looking once again at the boy, Trowa assumes a voice audible only to members of the front row, "What's your name kid?"

The child simply sits in awe at what he is doing.  He can't believe he is actually sitting on a lion's back.  The blank look leaves his face as he finally comes back to the reality of the situation.  "Jake," the name barely makes it out of the shy boy's mouth.

"I'm Trowa, and this is Heero and Wufei. They look tough on the outside, but they're really gentle on the inside," Trowa smiles again, as there is a cough from the front row, and then turns back to Jake, "Why don't you shake hands with them?"  Trowa removes the child from Heero's back, and places him in front of the two lions.  They both put up their paws to the boy, and, no longer restricted by his previous fear, Jake eagerly thrusts his hands forward and shakes hands.

Sensing the discomfort of the audience, Trowa places the boy back on Heero, and places the flute to his mouth.  Pursing his lips, he blows softly, and a gentle note fills the tent.  Both lions look at their trainer in anticipation of the music to come, and the audience is half revived by the break in the apparent silence, half unnerved by the sudden attention of the lions.  Adeptly moving his slender fingers, Trowa begins to play a fast, rhythmic tune, and the lions run around and jump to the music. Jake, obviously enjoying himself, holds on to the mane of the lion and shouts and laughs loud enough for the entire audience to hear it above the music.  The tension leaves the spectators, and they all clap and cheer for Trowa, his lions, and little Jake.

Trowa's song ends, and he moves over to Jake, "Had enough fun for now?"

"That was great, thank you so much Mr. Trowa," the boy says, beaming with pride and joy.

"It's my job, now go run over to your mom before she has a heart attack."

There is a huge sigh of relief from the mother as Jake runs and jumps over the front barrier, finally out of harm's way.  The audience claps, and Trowa takes a bow.  Once again putting the flute to his lips, the crowd quiets down.  He begins playing a slow waltz melody, and the lions approach each other in the center of the ring.  Getting up on their hind legs, they dance paw to paw.  They continue the slow dance until the end of the song. Applause breaks out everywhere from the crowd, and Trowa takes another bow.  With the clapping quieting down, Trowa leads the two lions out of the light and back to their cages, the next performers passing him on his way out of the center ring.

Trowa walks through a dark area towards a back room to wait for his next act, and passes a shadowy figure along the way.  He pauses for a moment, "I wasn't sure if you guys were going to make it until…" There is a short gap, and then Trowa continues, "Which one of them coughed anyways?"

Stepping from the shadows, Duo grins a little, remembering the moment, "That was Wufei.  I think you hurt his pride.  Heero just kept that straight look he always has, and Quatre and I almost broke out laughing." Duo thinks for a second more, and then laughs, "They both took a step away from each other when the lions started dancing, that was really a nice touch."

Trowa chuckles a bit, and then turns to face Duo, "Just wait until you see what I have in store for you."

"You can't be serious.  Hey!  Come back here!" However, Duo's words simply fall out into the darkness, Trowa's already gone.  There is a great cheer from the audience, and Duo decides to go back and watch the show.

Trowa closes the door behind him and sits in the relatively small lounge room for the performers.  Only a matter of two seconds passes before the door reopens, and Catherine enters.  She smiles at Trowa and sits beside him, trying to look through his constantly cool front.  "Trowa, do you ever smile?"

"I save that pleasure for when I have something to smile about."

"I was thinking, the knife throwing routine would be much more interesting for the audience…" She pauses for a second, choosing her words, "… and me, if I had a target that looked a little scared."

"Well I can't look something that I'm not, can I?"

"That's exactly my point, what if you were to choose someone from the front row," Catherine stops to think over the proposition for a moment then continues, "What do you think?"

"I agree," Trowa grins a little as he says this, and Catherine looks delighted.

"Was that a smile, Trowa?" She looks him straight in the face as Trowa attempts to look away, "Anyways, how can we be sure the person will stand still?"

"I've got someone in mind.  Leave it to me."

"Last time you said that…"

"Just trust me. Besides, it's not like I have a Gundam, so I couldn't do anything like that again."

"I guess you're right," Both hear the sound of applause, signaling the end of the next act, "Well, we're up. Try not to upstage me this time."

"Why would I do a thing like that?"

"Is that another smile, Trowa? Hey, showoff, don't just leave like that," Catherine jumps to her feet and chases after Trowa, who is already out the door and halfway to the entrance, "Do you always have to have the last word?"

Still walking towards the light coming from the main area, Trowa doesn't even turn as he responds, "You're no different."

Catherine runs to catch up, "There you go again!"

"Quiet now, the audience will hear you."

"Trowa…" Just as she is about to retort, they reach the center ring, with a spotlight shining on each of them.  They both take a bow, and divert the crowd's attention to the large circular board standing up in the middle of the ring, "Well Trowa, who did you have in mind?"

The single visible eye throws a glance towards his friends in the front row, straight at Duo, who makes a motion to run from the tent.  With a swift maneuver, Trowa jumps into the audience (doing his triple spin- flip specialty) and lands directly in Duo's path.  He grabs him by the arm and pulls him into the center ring, with everybody cheering and applauding. A voice can even be heard from the front row, "Now it's your turn!"

Duo pleads with Trowa for the entire walk to the board, "Why, why me? Why not Quatre?"

"He trusts me too much, it wouldn't be a good show."

"I thought I trusted you until now."

"Just stand still and you'll be fine," Trowa places him in front of the board, arms outstretched and clamped to the board, facing the beautiful knife thrower. "There's nothing to worry about, she's only hit me once."  With this, Trowa backs away and stands still, facing outwards to the audience.

            Underneath his breath, Duo mumbles to himself, "Wish I had one of those self-destruct buttons now."

            Calmly, so none can even tell he's speaking besides Duo, Trowa responds quickly, "It never works for you anyways."  Suspense having built to its peak, Catherine prepares to throw the first knife, and Duo faints.

"Duo…  Wake up Duo.  Okay, somebody get the cold water."

"No, don't, I'm up, I'm up."

            Duo sits up and finds himself on a bed in a trailer, barely close enough to the main tent to hear the cheers of the crowd.  He surveys the single room trailer, noticing Heero, Quatre, and Wufei all sitting behind Trowa, who was standing by Duo at the time, but now takes his place leaning against the wall by a window.  "Figures," Duo scoffs at the positions he finds his companions: Wufei in meditation, Heero looking uninterested as always, and Quatre eagerly sitting at the edge of his seat looking at Duo.

            Quatre is the first to break the silence, "That was quite a dramatic faint there, Duo.  It's too bad we're the only ones who noticed."

            "What?  You mean I'm not gonna win an award for that great performance?"

            Heero grins a bit, and decides to burst Duo's bubble, "The only performers out there were Catherine and Trowa, and you were practically trembling so hard that if you had stayed conscious she might have hit you."

            "You mean she threw them anyways?"

            "Like Quatre said, we were the only ones that noticed."

            "Why me?" Duo assumes a helpless look and shakes his head.  There is silence once again for a moment, and then Duo asks, "So are we all staying for the night, or just Quatre and me?"

            Wufei, aroused by something apparently amusing in Duo's question, opens his eyes from his meditation, and grins, "Not all of us are staying."

            "What's so funny?"

            Trowa smiles too, and without even raising his head from it's position simply states, "Heero's leaving tonight." Heero looks unamused, but apparently aware of the joke between Trowa and Wufei.

            Duo looks completely confused, as does Quatre.  Quatre looks at Trowa and blandly but with a note of curiosity, as if expecting to get a further answer, "That doesn't explain anything."

            Trowa manages to edge in one sentence before bursting into laughter, while Wufei continues to smile, and even chuckles a bit.  "Relena's got a meeting tomorrow morning."  At this point, Heero looks even less amused, and Duo breaks out laughing with Trowa, while Quatre looks even more confused.  Noticing the bewildered look on Quatre's face, Trowa leans over and whispers something in his ear, and then Quatre doubles over with laughter.  Heero's expression remains unchanged.

            "Did you just invite us all so you could laugh at me, or was there a real point to the visit, otherwise I don't feel bad at all that I'm leaving."

            Trowa straightens up a bit, and manages to stop his laughing. "No, there was a reason I invited you all here." Slowly, the others calm down look towards Trowa in anticipation. "The war is over, everyone.  We made it; we won.  We fought for everyone who couldn't fight, and we won.  I'm sure that this is the beginning of a long peace, and we were able to do what we could to make it come about.  I thought peace was going to be restless for me; all I've ever done is battle.  However, peace is much better than I thought it would be, and I know you all agree.  I invited you all to the circus so that we could all get together to have fun, instead being together in some battle.  We have something to be proud of, and I think it's time we started living our lives."

            Everyone nods in silent agreement, each having their own meaning of Trowa's words in their hearts.  As they all stand to return to the main tent, the show still going on, the five finally have a chance to feel pride in what they accomplished.  They walk on, knowing that this is the beginning of their lives not as soldiers, but as people, as friends.


End file.
